Youkai Watch Movie 5: Forever Friends

[Contains some spoilers of about the first 15 minutes of the film]

Peak movie, and peak storyline. Entertaining from beginning to end.

This movie has a more dark/ serious tone than most other Yo-Kai Watch related things, and a lot of the God Yokai reminded me of Dragon Ball characters, which was super cool in my opinion. The only goofy thing I’d cast aside is the damn Nekomata FART JOKE halfway through the movie, which just made me shake my head.

(For some reason a lot of these movies have fart jokes?? Idk)

Anyways,

Essentially, the kid is trying to support his mother while she’s sick, so he has ... a mail-delivery job to earn money to buy her medicine. After he makes her dinner for the night, she gets possessed by the fucking devil and runs out into the road, getting slammed into by a moving vehicle. She then dies instantly, leaving the boy all alone in life, since his father had went to get milk before he could create memories with him.

The kid then tires to kill himself by diving off a bridge, since he feels he has nothing to live for. But.. some mysterious boy saves his life, telling him he should value life more, and to not try and cut it short.

He tells the MC that there is actually a way to save his mom, since apparently the same situation happened to his sister. And so, they make a vow to partner up to take out the demon that stole the souls of their relatives.
That’s where the plot kicks in. And it’s really damn good.

I loved the little Guardian Angel Samurai Yokai that followed along with the MC throughout the movie. His voice was funny, the little actions he would do everywhere were funny, and he came to be a lot more important than I realized in the end. This movie had a lot of surprises and twists.

I also loved how the ending of this film really brought it all together. It even filled me with an indescribable joy to see the MC so teary-eyed like that. The tender moment after everything that had occurred in the story is like an emotional punch in the gut. You should definitely watch this movie, you’ll most likely end up loving it.

I’d give it an 100/10 if I could. I’d even defend this movie with my life if I had to. The hate is unnecessary, especially from the other guys review, and I dislike how much people shit on his franchise so often. It’s peak.

The main thought i had after watching Forever Friends was "What was the point?" Given it features a new protagonist (to the point of being a whole third of Yokai Watch 4), I was obviously wondering what different direction and tone LEVEL-5 would take to make it stand out from the goofy Keita era and the gritty Shadowside era. The answer: it's just more Shadowside. And if you're like me and hate all of the "Enma stuff" (which is all of the "cool anime guy" characters and swords and stuff) that's been defining the series for ages now, you're going to hate this.

The movie ... starts off promising. The plot works, the initial conflict is humble, and the three protagonists are all likable. However, it's shoved aside halfway through in favor of powerful men/spirit/demons fighting and getting more and more powerful just for the sake of spectacle. At least, when Shadowside did all of this, it was new and experimental. However, this movie is just more of the same (sometimes literally reused ideas) to the point where I wonder why it's separate from Shadowside. The focus being pushed away form Shin in the second half doesn't do it any favors for anyone hoping to learn more about the Yokai Watch 4 protagonist, either.


I feel like the point of Yokai Watch is the many yokai that inspirit people with their quirky traits, but the series has since pushed them to the wayside for ideas that aren't nearly as unique. This movie is no exception, and your enjoyment of it will depend on how you feel about the Enma stuff.